Man Charged In Trailer Shootout

Attempted Murder Charges Filed

NEWPORT NEWS — A 26-year-old local man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder in a shootout that ended Sunday with another man being shot to death by police.

Russell Pruitt, who police say lives at Arch Mobile Park, 5115 Jefferson Ave., is also charged with two counts of using a gun in a crime. He was being held in jail in lieu of $50,000 bond.

Pruitt was arrested after James Campley, 45, was killed by police bullets as he stood in the doorway of his trailer pointing a rifle at two officers, police said.

The charges against Pruitt stem from his alleged shooting at Campley and another man, Edker L. Saunders, 36, of the 5900 block of Jefferson Avenue, who was in stable condition Monday at Riverside Regional Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the hand and a grazed abdomen.

Police spokesman Capt. John W. Saunders said Monday he had not been authorized to identify the officers involved in the shooting.

According to a sworn police statement filed in Circuit Court by Detective A.T. Tutone, the two officers were patrolmen Barry Haddix and Dwight Stalls II, both of whom have been involved in previous shootings.

The affidavit for a warrant to search Campley's trailer after the shooting provides the following description of the incident. Campley is not named in the warrant, but his identity has been confirmed by police.

According to the warrant, Campley exchanged fire with Stalls, who had arrived first at the scene of a reported gunfight involving three people at the trailer park shortly after 4 p.m.

Stalls identified himself as a police officer "numerous times" to Campley, who was standing on his trailer porch, before Campley fired once at the officer, Tutone's affidavit says. Stalls shot once in return, and Campley went back inside the trailer.

After Haddix arrived, Campley, still carrying the rifle, emerged from the trailer and again stood on his porch, the affidavit says.

The officers warned Campley to drop the weapon, the affidavit says. When he pointed it at them, they fired, not knowing if they hit him.

Campley went back inside. Stalls went to the rear of the trailer, while Haddix remained near the front, the affidavit says.

Again Campley emerged from the trailer with the rifle and again the officers ordered him to drop it, the affidavit says. When he failed to respond, Haddix fired once, and the man went back inside.

At this time the man later identified as Saunders came out of the trailer and told the officers he had been shot, the affidavit says.

The police tactical team arrived at the trailer park shortly before 7 p.m.

After firing tear gas into Campley's trailer, the tactical team entered and found Campley's body with bullet wounds in the chest, said police spokeswoman Sgt. Susie Mowry.

Capt. Saunders said police were told the three men had been drinking in Campley's trailer all weekend. He said neighbors reported that about 35 shots were fired.

Police recovered a .30-30-caliber rifle believed to be the one used by Campley, and were searching for a pistol believed to have been used by Pruitt, said Saunders.

He said Edker Saunders would not be charged.

"He was a victim," said the police spokesman.

Capt. Saunders said police had not determined who fired the first shot in the gunfight between Campley and Pruitt.

He said no injuries were reported from stray bullets, but that two vehicles in the trailer park were hit.

Bob White, trailer park manager, said Campley was employed as a pile driver and had lived in the park about three months.

White said Pruitt had been evicted recently from a trailer in the park where he had lived with a relative.

The park manager said Pruitt's most recent address was in the 5900 block of Jefferson Avenue.

Stalls and Haddix have been involved in prior shootings as Newport News officers.

A bulletproof vest was credited with saving Stalls' life in 1987 when he was shot in the chest during a drug raid.

In 1984, Haddix and Patrolman Richard Waltrip exchanged gunfire with a murder suspect who was captured by the tactical team in the vicinity of Jefferson Avenue and Oyster Point Road.

Stalls was honored by two organizations last year, including his own department, which cited him and another officer, Nicholas Thombley, for disarming a man who confronted them with an ax and a butcher knife.

The Kiwanis Club of Warwick selected Stalls as police officer of the year for catching a 9-year-old boy who was dropped from a second-story window in a fire.